Improvement in sheet-metal cans



E. A. LELAND. Sheet-Metal 0am.

No.198,3( )6. Patented ec. 18,1877.

HUI

W752 asses. [22 veniar:

NITED 'IATES PATENT OFFIcE.

EDWIN A. LELAND, OF NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO LEONARD RICHARDSON,

OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN SHEET-METAL CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 198,306, dated December 18, 1677; application filed November 3, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I EDWIN A; LELAND, of the city, county, and tate of New York, have invented an Improvement in Sheet-Metal Cans, of whichthe following is a specification:

This invention relates to that class of hermetically-sealed cans designed to be opened by the tearing away or removal of the covering portion; but the principle may also be applied to the nozzles of a larger variety of cans-for example, petroleum-cansto hermetically close the same during storage or transportation.

Figure 1 is a side view of a can made according to my invention; Fig. 2, a central vertical sectional view thereof, with the parts in position to hermetically close the can; Fig. 3, a like view, with the parts separated or detached. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the blank from which the sealing-cap is made, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cap when brought to shape.

The bodyAof the can is made of sheet metal, in the usual way, and it may also be provided with the usual slip-cover B, this latter, however, being merely adjunctive to my said invention. C is the sealing-capa circular disk of sheet metal, formed primarily from a circular blank. (Indicated in Fig. 4.) From the center of this blank, radially to the circumference, is a slit, a b e, and the outermost portion of the part A is angularly cut away, as shown at b c in Fig. 4.. The disk is then brought into slightly concavo-convex or conical form, (indicated in cross-sections, Figs. 2 and 3,) thereby bringing the part f lapping over or upon the adjacent surface of the opposite part B. This done, the overlapping edges are soldered together on the under side from a to e, and on the upper side from a to b, the solder retaining the disk in its concavo-convex form.

It will be observed that on the upper side of this soldered joint or seam no solder is placed between the point I) e. The cap thus constituted is inserted into the top of the body A, and has its circumferential edge soldered at or near the upper edge of the said body.

The cap may be thus fixed in position after the can is filled, thereby obviating the trouble incident to the filling of cans, in the ordinary manner, from the bottom, or through an opening provided, and afterward separately soldered up.

The can being filled and the cap soldered in place, as just described, the slip-cover B may be placed upon the top, so that the can, as a whole, has the same external appearance as an ordinary can.

In order to open the can, the slip-cover is taken off, and the point of aknife or other suitable implement is inserted in the unsoldered space provided at the upper side of the cap, between the point b e, as herein just explained; and by turning or otherwise suitably manipulating the instrument a leverage is exerted upon the lip constituted by the overlapping portion f of the part A, which causes the rupture of the radial soldered seam or joint a b 6. This being started, the adjacent portion of the circumferential seam is also ruptured, and the entire cap 0 is readily drawn out and removed, thereby affording access to the interior of the can.

The slip-cover B may then be replaced, and the contents used or availed of with all the convenience incident to the use of an ordinary can.

It is to be observed that the invention may be applied not only to sheet-metal cans or boxes, but also, as represented in Fig. 6, to the nozzles of petroleum and other cans.

What I claim as my invention is- In a sheet-metal can, the concavo-eonvex cap 0, constructed with the radial and partlysoldered joint, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

EDWIN A. LELAND.

Witnesses EDWARD HOLLY, H. WELLS, Jr. 

